I read the first half of Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College (www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0470550473/tilsoncapitalpar), and it's BRILLIANT!  It should be required reading for every teacher (and at every ed school) in America.  Below is the transcript of a long interview that NPR did with the author, Doug Lemov, and two superstar teachers in the book, Julie Kennedy, principal of Williamsburg Collegiate, and Julie Jackson, principal of Northstar Academy, Vailsburg Campus Elementary School.

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan, in Washington.

Teachers sit at ground zero of the raging debate over education. The Obama administration argues that sometimes, the only way to fix a failing school is to fire the whole staff. Washington, D.C. and New York City are just two public school systems that want greater authority to fire teachers whose students perform poorly.

Doug Lemov has been looking through the other end of the telescope. He spent more than 10 years studying great teachers - men and women whose students scored consistently well - to figure out how they do it. And he distilled a set of ideas about how to control the classroom, how to engage the students, make them pay attention, hold them to high standards and get them ready for college.

Doug Lemov was the subject of a recent cover story in the New York Times Magazine, and joined us then. Today, his new book is out, so he's back. We're also going to hear from two teachers who use these techniques, and we want to hear from teachers in our audience.

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Simple Techniques Can Make You A Great Teacher

May 11, 2010

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126743261

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Talk of the Nation

[39 min 36 sec]

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Guests

Doug Lemov, author, Teach Like A Champion
Julie Kennedy, principal, Williamsburg Collegiate
Julie Jackson, principal, Northstar Academy, Vailsburg Campus Elementary School

May 11, 2010